Page 117 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec-Jan 2023

DECEMBER 2022-JANUARY 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
FROM THE SOURCE PAT CONROY 117
ABOVE: Pat Conroy receiving a briefing on the capabilities of HMAS Parramatta from a Navy Deputy Weapons Electrical Engineering Officer at Fleet Base East
together on. And on nuclear submarines, I’ve flagged that we need to use some conventional shipbuilding programs as one avenue to grow that workforce. I’ve also flagged the need to explore with my counterparts in the UK and the US how we can perhaps use their programs as sort of ger- mination projects for Australian workforce development.
ADM: Okay, so it’s a more like an international effort? MINISTER CONROY: I want as many Australian workers as possible trained in Australia but some elements may require training overseas, so can we arrive at a process where they’re working constructing submarines in our al- lies’ countries that gives them the skills so that they enable them to build Australian submarines, but also help deal with the workforce issues our allies have.
Now, this is very early in the process. There are real challenges around access to the crown jewels of the United Kingdom and United States, so in the end it may not be possible but we need to explore whether there are ways of exposing Australian industry to those projects.
ADM: This must be a question you get from industry as well?
MINISTER CONROY: Yes, it is. I’ve just finished a meeting with Australian key representatives of the Australian de- fence industry and the first issue they raised was workforce. But I think what struck me is that people aren’t just saying that you’ve got to solve it; they’re saying we need to be part of the solution and we want you and the union movement to be part of that as well. Ultimately,
the Government, on behalf of the Aus-
tralian taxpayer pays for this. We pay
for it either through projects that pro-
vide funding to skill up and develop
a skilled workforce; or we pay for it
through schedule delay, because the
industry doesn’t have the workers to
deliver on the capability we need. So,
I need to work on a long-term strategy
to deliver what we need. State govern-
ments are engaged in this area as well and that’s something where we have to work together to find a solution.
ADM: Are you comfortable with the current set of SICPs or do you have other areas that should be included? MINISTER CONROY: Well, the easy answer to the first ques- tion is, no, I’m not comfortable with the current set of SICPs. I think the list is too broad, it’s a case of ‘everyone gets a prize’. So, I think we need to reduce the number of SICPs, make sure the definitions are narrower and that will actually allow us to resource them. At the moment
“I THINK WORKFORCE IS PROBABLY THE GREATEST RISK TO DELIVERING THE CAPABILITY THAT THE ADF NEEDS”
DEFENCE